Tiny Uprisings: a place to call

Three and a half years ago, after 11 years of marriage, we were finally able to buy our first home - a sweet 1921 craftsman. It seemed a long time coming, after so many years of living in rentals and never really feeling like we had the freedom to make the place ours and put our stamp on things.

I am so grateful for this little house. Before this, my mindset was always, "Well, in the next house..." When we moved in here, I tried to stop that "next house" mentality and focus on this house. It isn't perfect, but it's ours. A place to really plant into our neighborhood and community. A little oasis from the world and a safe haven for our family. There's much to be done, and we are often overrun by toys and clutter and dishes and piles of mail, but from the moment we moved in, I've had a vision for this home. I'm excited to see it come to fruition...even if it takes the next two decades!

The previous owners updated most of it in the 90's, but unfortunately in the updating and ninety-fying (yes, I did just make up a word) they also stripped the house of all its original character and charm. I'm just trying to bring it back.

I'm a lover of all things DIY. I don't have a lot of knowledge or experience, but making something ugly or useless into something beautiful or purposeful is one of my greatest joys in life. I also may or may not have a love affair with power tools.

One way I'd love to use this blog is to document some of our home projects. I certainly don't want to write heavy blog posts all the time. And you certainly don't want to read them all the time. You'd get depressed and never come back!

With three kids and a steep learning curve, finishing any project takes an absolute eternity, but maybe I'll be more motivated if I'm posting here! So, I'll start by giving you the "before" tour. These are pics of the house from the real estate listing when we bought the house.